Essay on Women and Consumer Behaviour

Socioeconomic class is a class of a group of people having the same social, economic, or educational status. The working class and emerging professional class comes under the socioeconomic class. The socioeconomic varies by different factors such as gender, race and social class. Money is involved when we talk about socioeconomic class but there is more to it. For example, a waitress earning $7 per hour and wins a jackpot of $1 million won’t be in the same situation as the one whose business is worth $1 million. And this is what we will discuss further in one of the films.

Despite the debates about social class, the United States is usually described as having four major social classes, the elite or upperclass, the middle class, the working class, and the lower class (Goldscmidt). Classes are generally differentiated by income, education, and occupation although other factors do have an effect. The upperclass consists of about 1% of the population making 750,000 dollars or more a year as investors, top executives, or heirs to large fortunes (Hughes and Jenkins). There tends to be no question about who is in the upperclass as they are pretty clearly isolated in their power and wealth. The middle class makes up about 40% of the population making anywhere from 40,000 to 749,999 dollars a year (Hughes and Jenkins). The large disparity in income and wealth have led to a further division of this class into upper-middle class and middle class in some circles. The middle class usually work white collar jobs as professionals and managers, however some highly skilled blue collar workers are included. Those in the middle class have usually obtained higher education degrees and place a high value on individual responsibility for one’s class (Goldschmidt). The working class is composed of about 50% of the population earning 13,000 to 39,000 dollars a year (Hughes and Jenkins). Some also divide this class into a working class and a

A customer’s buying behaviour is also influenced by social factors, such as the groups to which the customer belongs and social status.

Society is set up into a hierarchical triangle that essentially determines social class. A social class is any person or group of people with the same educational, social or economical status. Social class can be broken down into many different categories such as race, age, gender, economic status, educational status and many more. Social class can be measured in many different ways such as financial status, family values, appearance, and demeanor. In America there are six main economical social classes which are the: Very poor, Poor, Working class, Middle class, Upper middle class, and the ruling class.

Hoyer, W. D., MacInnis, D. J., & Pieters, R. (2012). Consumer Behavior, 6e, 6th Edition.

Social class is defined as 'people having the same social or economic status' (Wordnet). In contemporary American society, social class is based on the amount of money and property you have and also prestige. Prestige is given to a person through the line of work or the family that they come from. For example, upper-upper class member Jennifer Lopez reeks of prestige not only because she has millions of dollars in her bank account, but she has very expensive luxuries, cars, and houses.

Social class refers to the system of stratification of the different groups of people in a society. These different forms of classification are, in most instances, based on gender ethnicity and age. Social class makes everyone’s lives extremely different. For example: How long one can expect to live. In a wide range of ways, from success, to one’s health class, social class influences people’s lives (Grusky,2003).

Culture is described as the symbols that individuals, groups and societies use to make decision of daily life and to assure their values. Culture is a model of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given organization as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal combination, which has worked well enough to think correctly and, so to instruct to new comers as the valid way to observe, consider and feel in relation to these problems. Culture consists of manner, mind-set, values, rituals, religious belief, law (written and unwritten), arts, ideas, custom, belief, ceremonies, social institutions, myths and legends, individual identity and behavior. Cultural pattern classifies are used to describe the dominant beliefs and values. Culture has been called the way of life for an entire society. It is a group or community living together and sharing a set of norms. Culture and society are coexistent. One does not or cannot exist without the other. Culture and society may have some common elements but the two are not the same; they are not identical.

Socio-economic class is reflective of occupation and education, combined with wealth and income to position one relative to others in society. These factors play a significant role in shaping someone's life chances and choices. Social class has much to do with who we are today. For example, access to jobs and education is often determined through the categories of social location and identity. White, middle-class/wealthy, men and women, statistically speaking, are given more access to college entrance and corporate executive employment than to any other persons of any

Understanding consumer buying behavior entails marketing, relationships, and consumer behavior. Consumer behavior comprises all the consumer decisions and activities connected with the choosing, buying, using and disposing of goods and services. Marketers must pay very close attention to consumer behavior that occurs before the purchase and after the particular product has been used. Studying consumer habits is one of the steps in marketing search and analysis. In addition to other basic principles of consumer buying habits, marketers also need to study the decision and actions of real people. Until recent history the study of consumer behavior was focused on generalized consumer decisions. With

According to (Blythe,2008) “consumer behaviour is when people obtain, consume and dispose of products and services.” Pg.5 identically the same when business travellers consume and make a purchase from the service.

Figure 3: Lush label states "Fresh Handmade Cosmetics" and "Bring back 5 Pots and Get a Fresh Face Mask Free"

Social classes are a description of individual’s position within the society concerning so leadership, prestige, influence, or compensation. Income levels of households or individuals play a

Social class is the position or ranking of people in society based on social stratification variables like income, occupation, type of residence, education and qualification that affect purchase pattern and buying behaviour. Social classes show distinct product and brand preferences, especially for goods considered as luxuries such as cars, furnishings and leisure activities like golf. For instance, wealth, power and prestige are popular factors frequently used in the estimation of social class. Social class influence can be used as a basis for segmenting markets, and may reflect the aspirations of consumers. (Schiffman, L., Bednall, D, O’Cass, A., Paladino, A., Ward, S. & Kanuk, L., 2008) Members within a social class share similar

The main difference between consumer buyer behaviour and organisational buyer behaviour is that consumer buying consists of activates involved in buying and using of products for personal and household use, where organisational buyers purchase primarily for organisational purpose.